When does healthy eating become disordered eating?

jfan175

Francl27 wrote: »

amyepdx wrote: »

Francl27 wrote: »

CattOfTheGarage wrote: »

While you have to be consistent, determined and thorough to lose weight, I do NOT agree that you have to come close to disordered eating.

Some of the behaviours may be superficially similar, but there are crucial differences - specifically, how you feel about it. Calorie counting and healthy choices should not be associated with anxiety, and to the extent that they are, you are doing it wrong.

Now, of course we all struggle with this initially, but if you are moving in the right direction, you should see a decrease in that anxiety and a gradually healthier, more proportionate relationship to food as time goes on. Less moralising, less splitting, less worrying, less emotional eating, less self-hatred, less need to fret over every bite.

By contrast, an eating disorder will see an increase in all those things over time, because an eating disorder is not a means of empowering yourself - it is a progressive loss of control.

We should all take note of this and regularly check our feelings and attitudes, because it is true that any weight loss effort carries a risk of developing disordered eating behaviours.

Look at your trajectory. You should see an improvement in your attitude and feelings around food. If it's deteriorating, you need to revisit your approach, and perhaps seek help.

Explain to me how eating at a deficit is possible without any anxiety when you LOVE eating and have a social life that often involves food (that you may not have much control over).

Why do you think that people gain the weight back? Because it gets harder, not easier, for most people.

People that have never had a weight problem behave this way all the time -making choices & trade-offs (whether consciously or unconsciously) on what and how much to eat. I don’t know about you, but my goal is to think like that.

Of course, but most people gain the weight back because it's not that easy to completely reteach your brain how to see food a healthy way.

No, it's not easy. If it were, this site wouldn't even exist and everyone would be lean. It is doable though, and not nearly as daunting a task if you have the knowledge, the desire and the tools to do the job.

SCoil123

Francl27 wrote: »

amyepdx wrote: »

Francl27 wrote: »

CattOfTheGarage wrote: »

While you have to be consistent, determined and thorough to lose weight, I do NOT agree that you have to come close to disordered eating.

Some of the behaviours may be superficially similar, but there are crucial differences - specifically, how you feel about it. Calorie counting and healthy choices should not be associated with anxiety, and to the extent that they are, you are doing it wrong.

Now, of course we all struggle with this initially, but if you are moving in the right direction, you should see a decrease in that anxiety and a gradually healthier, more proportionate relationship to food as time goes on. Less moralising, less splitting, less worrying, less emotional eating, less self-hatred, less need to fret over every bite.

By contrast, an eating disorder will see an increase in all those things over time, because an eating disorder is not a means of empowering yourself - it is a progressive loss of control.

We should all take note of this and regularly check our feelings and attitudes, because it is true that any weight loss effort carries a risk of developing disordered eating behaviours.

Look at your trajectory. You should see an improvement in your attitude and feelings around food. If it's deteriorating, you need to revisit your approach, and perhaps seek help.

Explain to me how eating at a deficit is possible without any anxiety when you LOVE eating and have a social life that often involves food (that you may not have much control over).

Why do you think that people gain the weight back? Because it gets harder, not easier, for most people.

People that have never had a weight problem behave this way all the time -making choices & trade-offs (whether consciously or unconsciously) on what and how much to eat. I don’t know about you, but my goal is to think like that.

Of course, but most people gain the weight back because it's not that easy to completely reteach your brain how to see food a healthy way.

Lots of people do change their thinking though. It is possible. Look at people who recover from eating disorders or those in AA for long periods of time. You can absolutely find healthier ways to approach life and stop acting on compulsions. It isn’t easy but with consistent practice can become someone’s new normal